Be Heard Marketing

Image courtesy of PRSA

PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) recently published an article (http://bit.ly/8Ar1KY) that summarizes the findings of several reports about the impact of public relations for various industries, its role in the integrated marketing mix and how PR will help companies survive and thrive during and beyond this recession. Here are some highlights from those findings:

• Public relations often may be more important to brand value than advertising, especially for purchasing decisions related to complex products. 
• Public relations might have more of an impact on the bottom line during a recession than any other marketing communications activity.
• Media coverage relates to not just a company’s reputation but the actual financial value of the brand.
• The most effective messages will be those that are transmitted through trusted third parties or by word-of-mouth.
• Public relations is more likely to be effective in building consumer confidence in financial institutions.
• Public relations is just as effective, and often far more cost-efficient, than advertising for building long-term brand value.

 The moral of the PRSA story:

The article’s author, Aedhmar Hynes concludes, “The current economy only serves to amplify the importance of marketing via third-party influencers and neutral venues. Since unpaid media placement is more credible to buyers, it should play a key role in building brand value for high-involvement brands — especially during the recession. Brands that invest in building their reputations this way will come out of this economic downturn stronger, while competitors who don’t will likely suffer.”

What this means for your business:

Every company or organization has an image, position and level of awareness in the marketplace merely because it exists. Whether or not a company takes an active role in the development of that image is another story.

Public relations is a powerful component of the marketing mix that can affect how customers, employees, stakeholders and the general public view your organization or company and its products. An organization’s public relations may be consistent, proactive, structured and driven by sound marketing goals. Or it may be allowed to develop unchecked in response to market conditions, competition and public sentiment.

Public relations cannot correct flaws in your products or services, nor does it work overnight. What it can do is communicate the benefits of your product or service to targeted audiences and help create relationships with them. And if there is a problem or crisis, it can help you actively communicate how your organization is solving the problem and perhaps soften the blow.

What you can do about it:

With a fresh, strategic and proactive perspective, Be Heard Marketing provides comprehensive public relations services. Get in touch to find out how an ongoing public relations program can help your business.

Don’t be overwhelmed by your regular newsletter regimen … simply plan ahead! 

If your biggest challenges in creating an effective newsletter (eNewsletter or traditional print) involve the following dilemmas, you’re not alone. Here are a few tips to overcome them.

 1. Setting Goals
Don’t underestimate the power of putting your goals in writing. Your goals might be to generate leads, drive traffic to your Website or to keep your company’s name in front of prospects and customers.

2. Creating an Effective Subscription Page
Getting people to subscribe to your e-mail newsletter isn’t easy, but it is critical. If you request too much information on the subscription page or the e-mail newsletter description is weak, you’ll lose prospects.

Remember to include a brief description of your e-mail newsletter. It must be written to appeal to your audience and should define: 

• Who should read your e-mail newsletter
• The type of content your e-mail newsletter offers
• Benefits to the reader of subscribing/reading the e-mail newsletter
• How often you publish
• Exactly how to subscribe

3. Finding and Creating Appropriate Editorial Content
Finding good quality articles highly targeted to your audience is often difficult. However, there are many ways to create editorial content. For example: 

• Case Studies/Testimonials
• How-to articles
• Interviews
• Seminar coverage
• Guest columnists
• Previously published pieces

Finding quality content takes time, whether you create it from scratch or subscribe to a syndicated service. To produce a higher quality e-mail newsletter, be organized and plan each issue ahead, with enough time to write and edit articles.

For more newsletter ideas, contact Be Heard Marketing.

Tips Hotline Operator:
“PR Tips Hotline, what’s your question?”

Caller: 
“What information goes into a well-written press release?”

Before you distribute any release, please objectively edit it to ensure it meets at least the basic criteria for a well-written, timely and newsworthy story. Here are the basics that are most commonly overlooked:

Contact Information
Be sure to include the name, title, and complete contact information for your media representative/ spokesperson. Include phone number (office and cell), fax number and e-mail address. As a PR veteran of 16 years, my advice is to be as accessible and responsive as possible.

Press Release Headline
State your most exciting news, finding or announcement in as few words as possible. Emulate the headlines you see in highly regarded newspapers or trade publications. Your copy should be factual, not sensational.

The Press Release Subhead
Subheads are remarkably useful tools, yet usually overlooked by inexperienced press release writers. Basically, the press release subhead gives you the opportunity to flesh out your angle and further hook the reporter, without stepping on the drama of the press release headline.

The Press Release Lead
Journalism 101 — the lead paragraph includes the who, what, when, where and how of the story. If the reporter were only to read the lead of a good press release, he’d have everything he needed to get started.  There’s no room for hype or sell. Just the facts.

The Rest of the Press Release
The balance of the press release serves to back up whatever claims were made in the lead and headline.  A quote should be included to help add perspective and enhance the relevance of the news story – not to state the obvious or present cliché remarks. 

Boilerplate
Finally, spend a sentence or two describing your company and what you do. This paragraph is known as the “boilerplate” — an old newspaper term meaning a block of standard text that’s used over and over again (e.g. the explanation of symbols on the stock price page). In this case, it’s text that you might use at the bottom of all your releases.   Place your boilerplate right above the # # #’s and include the company’s location, main phone number and website address.

Below the ###’s
Here’s the space you can use to provide the reporter/editor with additional information, notes regarding images, image thumbnails and captions, links to downloadable images or an online newsroom, etc. If one-on-one interviews or an on-site tour is an option, add a line that says something like: If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with John Smith, please call Jane Doe at 555.927.0066 or e-mail Jane.Doe@MediaRelations.com.

Some Key Things to Remember

• Stay away from hype-bloated phrases like “breakthrough”, “unique”, “state-of-the-art”, etc.
• Always write it from a journalist’s perspective. Never use “I” or “we” unless it’s in a quote.
• Read a lot of good newspaper writing, such as the New York Times or the Washington Post to get a feel for the style.
• Shorter is better. If you can say it in two pages, great. If you can say it in one page, even better.

Now that you’ve got the ingredients of a well-written press release, you might be wondering what other methods you should use to make yourself a really useful media resource. You may even wonder if a press room might be a good idea. Well, it is!

Your media contacts can benefit greatly from a press room (a.k.a. news room) – managed by your PR team – to keep them abreast of your company’s latest endeavors, innovations, accomplishments and much more. In next week’s post, I’ll reveal the contents of a truly useful press room.

For public relations counsel, press release (news release) development guidance, press release distribution or media relations support, get in touch with me.

Denise B. Hearden
Be Heard Marketing